Folksingers and the Civil Rights Movement

On the day that Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke to what was the largest gathering of its kind to ever set foot in Washington, D.C., he was joined by Joan Baez, who began the morning with an African-American spiritual tune called, “Oh Freedom.”

But the Civil Rights movement wasn’t just about grandiose speeches made in front of thousands of people at the nation’s capital. It was also about Baez, Pete Seeger, and others standing on truck beds and in churches across the American south, singing together with people about the inalienable rights of freedom and opportunity. It was about conversations and sing-alongs, and people being able to look around them to see their friends and neighbors joining in, singing, “We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day.”

The fact that so many folksingers joined Dr. King in his effort to spread the word about civil rights was hugely relevant, not only because it brought a little added media attention to the effort, but also because it showed that there was a faction of the white community that was willing to stand up for the rights of African-Americans. The presence of folks like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, Odetta, Harry Belafonte, and Pete Seeger alongside Dr. King and his allies served as an omen to people of all colors, shapes, and sizes that we are all in this together.

Unity is an important message at any time, but during the civil rights movement, it was a vital component. The folksingers who joined in spreading Dr. King's message of vital change through non-violence not only helped to change the course of events in the south, but they also helped to encourage people to join with singing the songs. This helped validate the movement, but it also gave people comfort and the knowledge that there was hope in their community.

In the end, many people suffered great losses - from facing the risk of imprisonment to being threatened, beaten, and in some cases even killed. Like any time of great change in history, the period in the 1950s and 60s when people across the country stood up for civil rights was full of both heartbreak and victory. No matter the context of the movement, Dr. King, thousands of activists, and dozens of American folk singers stood up for what was right and managed to actually change the world.